Women reflect on visit to German twin town

Christine Walker (left), Sue Pinyoun, Elaine Smith and Helen Steel standing in front of the coach outside Cleethorpes Town Hall before the 1975 trip to Königswinter

Two friends have reflected on their "great adventure" to Cleethorpes' twin town in Germany on a school trip almost 50 years ago.

The Lincolnshire town has been twinned with Königswinter since 1974.

To mark the 50-year anniversary, North East Lincolnshire Council encouraged people to share their experiences.

Christine Walker, Helen Steel, along with their two friends, who all went to Cleethorpes Girls' Grammar School, were just teenagers when they visited the town in July 1975.

Ms Walker described the detached wooden house she stayed in as "beautiful" with a large garden

Studying O-Level German at the time, the girls, aged 16 and 17 at the time, stayed with families in villages near Königswinter.

Ms Steel and Ms Walker said it was the first time they had ever been abroad.

Ms Walker, 65, stayed in Bad Honnef.

She stayed with a family including three girls, who had been learning English and helped with communication.

"All the German girls were very nice. It was fantastic and a really nice experience," said Ms Walker.

Highlights of her trip included a cruise from Königswinter to Rüdesheim am Rhein, and drinking German Erdbeer Bowle - a strawberry cocktail concoction, served in a punch bowl - in the garden.

Cleethorpes, left, and Königswinter have been twinned for 50 years

Ms Steel, who now lives in London but still has family in the Cleethorpes area, went on to study a joint French and German degree after the trip.

She said: "I think the trip was really exciting because we hadn't been given that opportunity before. We felt very grown up.

"It was quite a different environment to the one I was used to. For us it was a great adventure from beginning to end."

'Twinning is important'

Keith Brookes, chairman of Cleethorpes Trustees, told BBC Radio Lincolnshire he is looking into holding an exhibition or meeting in May.

The exhibit would present photographs from the archives of the twinning friendship over the years.

Locals from Königswinter are set to visit Cleethorpes in July, when Mr Brookes said they hoped to sign an agreement to carry on the twinning for another 50 years.

He said: "We believe the twinning really is important, particularly now we don't have the relationships with Europe that we did have.

"It does a lot for both towns for their tourism industry."

Anyone who was part of the first visits to Königswinter is asked to contact Mr Brookes at the council.

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